In developing software for execution on a processor, it is helpful to have access to debug information available in the processor. However, many debug mechanisms of the processor are for purposes of testing and debug during the design and manufacture of the processor and thus are not accessible, at least in a straightforward manner, to a software developer. Instead, to leverage debug features that were meant for internal (within a processor manufacturer) use only, various microcode patches are implemented that require significant support. These solutions are quite cumbersome, require high levels of support, and eventually raise concerns with computer manufacturers and software developers. Thus for developers that want to exploit debug features provided within a processor, much time and energy is involved in developing the software and enabling an interface to the debug features. To this end the processor manufacturer typically provides the necessary hooks to allow access to such features, which itself can be a time consuming and unwieldy endeavor.